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The Electric Toadstool
The Electric Toadstool was a hippie club in Columbus, Georgia. The club It was only in operation from 1969 through 1970. The club was located in an old brick storefront building on the 1800 block of Hamilton Road, just off what is now Veteran's Parkway. The Electric Toadstool was owned and operated by Buddy Cunningham and Rob Piper. Bob Piper also ran the boutique up the street called The Hip Pocket, selling jeans and other hip clothing and accessories. In the back, a small recording studio was set up. According to historical information provided by local rock musician Gary Burnette, there were three shops, the Electric Toadstool, its affiliate, The Hip Pocket, and an adjoining, unrelated shop. There was a tiny, independent gas station up the street on the corner. This area has been completely demolished in recent years, with a multi-lane highway and medical facilities adjoining the major hospital in Columbus, the Medical Center, about a block east of where The Electric Toadstool and other buildings once stood. The performers Arnold Bean was functionally the house band, although Mosaic Sunshine, Michael, Jay Vaquer's Mary's Grave, Fane, Larry Rose's Neat and other bands, singer-songwriters and poets also performed there regularly. The club's patrons sat on the floor on church pew cushions and the band stood against one wall, right before them. Eventually, a tiny stage was built to elevate the performers a few inches. Musicians began to appear from hamlets like Richland, Georgia Thomaston, Georgia, Auburn, Alabama and so on. Groups began to sprout up with names like Wild Goose, Promise, Choo Choo Wizard and The Mats. One band was booked for a night, for some reason there never was double billing of bands. Michael Guthrie of Arnold Bean recalls that in the crowd there was a military following, a large number of high school misfits types, and oddly, a very little college crowd. Even odder since Columbus State University, then known as Columbus College was just a couple of miles away, Rose Hill History Columbus, Georgia is next to Fort Benning, Georgia so many of the young people who were regulars at the Toadstool were children of men serving in Viet Nam. This created a unique atmosphere where people were participating in a culture against the war, but at the same time feeling family loyalties to people serving in the war. The little shops in that area had once long-ago served the Rose Hill suburbanites whose great homes lined Hamilton and Talbotton Roads up the hill. With the passing of time and the advent of the auto¬mobile, the shops were bypassed and fell into disuse, coming into the price range of young entrepreneurs who had little cash but big ideas. The raid and closing of the doors Admission was set at a dollar and the place would pack in a capacity crowd. Capacity was always an issue with the Fire Marshall as there was basically only one entrance and exit. Columbus Police began to make occasional inspections of the club, demanding that the music be stopped and the lights turned on while they scrutinized the patrons. Finally, one night, the Vice Squad and the Columbus Police Department staged the major raid on the Electric Toadstool. As a result, in 1970, the city of Columbus refused to renew Buddy Cunningham's business license and closed The Electric Toadstool. Cunningham and Piper turned to the retail sales end of the trade and created, with Jay O'Connell, Hip Square on Broadway in downtown Columbus, Georgia. The Hip Square sold the hard to find bell bottom jeans along with waterbed, jewelry and coffee shops, as well as the requisite head shop. External Links *Toadstool article *Electric Toadstool blog *Rose Hill Rosie, a song by Arnold Bean *Robert George tribute page *Arnold Bean Facebook Page